the end is only the beginning
by cross4m3
Summary: Lily and james Potter died to save their son but their job isn't done yet. now, while they wait for his time to come and wait for him to make the same decision they had to make. they must do the hardest thing of all: watch him grow up without them
1. the end

**A/N: i don't own any of the harry potter characters**

The end

_There was a banging at the door and suddenly the door was blown off it's hinges __by a powerful spell unknown to James. He didn't know how Voldemort had found them or _

_why he had chosen this exact moment to appear. He had no idea why the protective __spells put up around the house hadn't worked or why the order of the phoenix hadn't __warned them that he was coming, _

_perhaps they hadn't known? But that would mean that __Dumbledore had made a mistake, and he didn't make mistakes, did he? No, he didn't, but __that would mean that the mistake was on the part of James _

_and Lily, and they were sure __they could trust everyone they had confided in, he didn't know who would be fool enough __to betray one of the few wizard families willing to fight. What he did know was that _

_Voldemort had indeed found them and they were all in danger. He knew that somehow __somewhere along the line something had gone wrong, and someone had betrayed them. __He knew that if he didn't fight _

_now, Lily and Harry would not survive, and even if he did __fight and die for them he knew that they still might die anyways. He knew that he could __never let that happen, as long as he still had breath in his body, _

_he would fight for them __to survive. _H_e knew with every fiber of his being that everything came down to __this, everything in his life up to that point, every word said, every action taken, every __spell learned, all of it _

_was preparing him for this moment. He could not fail, it was not an __option, if he failed now his life meant nothing, and that just wasn't acceptable to him. All __of this went through James' mind in a fraction of a _

_second before he shouted to Lily that __she needed to run and he would hold him off. He turned to face his assailant but all he __saw was a jet of green light coming from the end of his adversary's wand, when he _

_saw it __he knew that he wasn't long for this world, he was going to die. His last thought was of __the love of his life and their son, the only hope they had of a better future. He wanted to _

_know that they were all right. That Lily had gotten Harry out alive, but he knew it was __probably futile. Nobody survived once Voldemort decided he wanted them dead. __Oh sure, a few could probably survive by _

_hiding out somewhere, but once he found them, and they had to face him head on, they were dead already. And they didn't even realize it yet. How unfair is that? But then, how fair can life be if there was _

_someone like Voldemort around to disregard the value of human life. __This was when he realized it, suddenly he didn't care that he was about to die, he knew that Voldemort would never succeed, even though _

_James was going to die, he still had hope that Lily and Harry would live. The curse hit him as he realized that, and he smiled, knowing that others would soon rise up to replace him, and Lily…That was the _

_moment when James Potter died, smiling at the thought of his wife._

**A/N: keep reading, this is just a prologue the real story starts in the next chapter.**


	2. not quite finished yet

**A/N and disclaimer: i don't own any of the harry potter characters or any of that extra stuff, they belong to jk rowling and warner brothers. and someone else probably will say they thought of a concept similar to the watchers somewhere along the line but this version of them is mine and not based on anything at all, just some weird "what if" thinking on my part**

**A/N: sorry to those of you who are reading this for the second chapter but you will have to re read some of the first since I did a little reorganizing. I decided that the events in the first and second chapter work better when read all at once so I stuck them together. They fit pretty well since that's how I wrote them in the first place. **

**_Not quite finished yet_**

He seemed to be floating. No that wasn't right, because he felt something solid

under his feet. But there was nothing else around to judge where he was, so he couldn't really tell what was happening. All he knew was that he had an overwhelming desire to see his wife or at

least find out what had happened to her. He needed to know, it was overwhelming him and he didn't know why. "Lily?" He called pensively. But when no immediate reply came he tried again, louder

this time. "Lily? Are you there? Is anyone there? Sirius? Remus? Professor Dumbledore? Snape? Anybody? Santa? Just kidding. Where is everybody? Ok, jokes over guys, Ha Ha very

funny, now get out here so I can hex you. Guys? Hello? Oh come on, I was just kidding about that hexing thing! Lily? I need you Lily, where are you? " He kept calling for what seemed like days, but

could have been hours or even just a few minutes. There was really no way to tell since there was nothing else there to judge the passage of time, it was just

white as far as his eyes could see. Eventually, when he was about to give up hope and just sit there listlessly he heard a voice say, "you can stop calling for your wife Mr. Potter, she can't hear you

yet." Needless to say this stunned him more than finding himself here. Hearing a disembodied voice telling him what to do, and calling him by his name, was more than he could handle

at the moment, he lost his temper and started yelling at it. "**Who are you? Where is my ****wife? What have you done with her? Just let me see her! Did she save Harry? I **

**have to know what happened!**" He suddenly fell to his knees and started crying for his lost wife and son, "please," he was begging now, "I have to know that they are ok! I need

to know what happened to them! Did she get away? Did they survive?" The voice spoke again, "calm down Mr. Potter, you'll see them when the time comes, and not a moment

before." when this statement failed to calm him down, the voice tried a different approach, "James, I know you want to see them now but they aren't here yet, they aren't

ready. If you calm down I can explain some of what happened but not all of it, that comes later, when you're ready for it." James stopped for a moment and after having decided that some answers

were better than none, He stood up and tried to face the unknown voice. This turned out to be a bad idea considering there was nothing to face, all he did was make himself feel dizzy. "Can I at least

see who I'm talking to?" he asked, "talking to disembodied voices is kind of annoying, and makes me feel a little crazy." "Good point James, I wouldn't want you to doubt your sanity, at least not yet."

and with that a very familiar looking old wizard appeared in front of him looking for all the world like he expected James to run up and hug him just for appearing there. "You look familiar," James said,

"I feel like I've seen you somewhere before." "I should say so young man." the old wizard said, "for all the times you've been in my old office after one of your shenanigans, I think you should have my

name memorized by now, as well as those of my predecessors." "so you were a headmaster of Hogwarts?" James askedincredulously, how could they let such a frail looking old man be the

headmaster of a school like Hogwarts? "wait, now I recognize you! You're Professor Dippet!" The old wizard nodded his bald head fervently. He looked down as he said, "I would like to think that I

was the greatest headmaster Hogwarts has ever known, since the founders of course, I would never say I was better than those four." the old wizard, now identified as Professor Dippet, looked

ashamed for some reason. "But once again I have been proven wrong, just as I was 39 years ago, when we expelled the wrong student. But you need not know about that…yet. At least this time my

failure has proven fortuitous, as Hogwarts had yet to fall on it's darkest days when I was alive. Now it's greatest headmaster is battling to save it, and even the watchers don't know whether he will

succeed or not. It all hinges on one boy." James was a little troubled by this, he knew that he was living in dark times but he had never realized exactly how bad the situation was. For the first time

since his arrival he was glad that he was there for the moment and not back in the world he was from, the one that was experiencing dark times even now. When he got back he would have to tell Lily

all about this place and send an owl to Dumbledore thanking him for keeping the school safe for his son. But what if he couldn't get back, what if there was no way out of here? No, he couldn't think

that way, he had to get back, if not for Lily then for their son Harry. James couldn't leave Lily to raise their son alone, there was no way he would do that to her, he loved her too much and he was

sure she wouldn't be able to lose him and continue fighting as they needed to, for Harry. James' mind was made up, he had to go back by whatever means possible. "Professor Dippet, I have to go

back." James stated. The Professor just smiled and said, "I'm afraid that's not possible." James was livid now, "I don't care. I'm going back, and I don't care who, what, when, where, why, or how it

happens. I'm going back, and you can't stop me. I have to protect my family!" James was shouting now. Who did this Dippet character think he was? Nobody could tell him that he couldn't go back and

protect the woman he loved and their precious son that they had worked so hard to protect. He was James Potter, Nothing in the world could keep him from his family, he was just a little bit stubborn

that way, and he wasn't going to change anytime soon. "Professor I don't care what you say, I'm not going to just sit here knowing that they are in danger. I'm going back and there's nothing you can

do to stop me. You can kill me if you want. I really don't care, I'd rather die than let them get hurt while I'm just standing here talking to you!" Professor Dippet had a mournful look in his eye as he said

his next words with sadness evident in his voice, "that's just it James, I wish I could send you where you want so desperately to go, but it's impossible because you are dead. And after death there is

no going back.

"What!?!? What do you mean I'm dead?! I'm talking to you aren't I?! _**How can I be dead if I'm talking to you?**_" James knew that yelling at the frail old man known as Professor Dippet would not help

at all but he had just been informed that he was dead, and he couldn't go back to save his wife and child from the greatest enemy known to wizard kind, and quite understandably he was none too

happy about it. To his credit, Professor Dippet let him yell, he seemed to know that stopping James at a time like this would cause him to be beaten within an inch of his afterlife, if that was even

possible. Perhaps the old man knew more than he was letting on at the moment. Truthfully he did know more, though not very much considering he was only the first one that James was to see before

the last task took place.

Although he technically had all the time in the world, or whatever this place was, Armando Dippet was not a very patient man, yes he could wait if he needed to, but he didn't have to like it, he only

had patience for his students and faculty members. Since James was neither a student or a teacher, Dippet's patience ran out. And when Armando Dippet runs out of patience with you, he let's you

know, quickly and usually painfully as well. **"James Potter! Sit down, shut up, and pay attention!"** Professor Dippet's yell probably could have been heard as far away as London, if they had been in

the real world instead of whatever this place was. "Now, will you be quiet and listen to me so I can explain?" Dippet said in his normal voice as soon as James had obeyed him. James could only nod,

for fear of getting yelled at again, he almost looked like a first year getting yelled at by a teacher for the first time. It took all of the restraint garnered from his years of teaching not to laugh at the

sight of a grown man cowering in front of the frail old headmaster.

"Thank you. Now, I'll do my best to explain exactly what happened, and tell you what I know of the events that transpired this evening… and would you please try not to interrupt me this time?"

Dippet said, James seemed a little annoyed at the last statement, most likely because he had been about to do just that. When James didn't say anything to interrupt him, Dippet continued on with his

explanation. "Yes, you are in fact dead, killed by the one called Lord Voldemort, and at this exact moment in time it is impossible to send you back at all, so don't ask. As to where you are, I don't really

know. For the moment I would have to say nowhere and everywhere all at once. You see, we are in essence '_outside_' of time, at least as far as people on earth know and understand it, they see it as

linear with a start and end point, and for them it's true since they are stuck in a linear existence within the time stream. We don't have to worry about time as a factor in our existence here, it doesn't

affect us, hence my statement that we are outside of it instead of within and subject to it's movements." James couldn't contain himself any longer, "but why am I here? And what happened to Lily and

Harry?" Dippet just smiled at his stubbornness, no wonder his family had been chosen for this, if his son was anything like him then this would almost be too easy. After James settled down again

Dippet continued his explanation as if he hadn't been interrupted at all, "I was just getting to that. You must pay attention because this is important. We who are outside of time are known as

watchers, and with good reason: we watch events as they unfold but we don't interfere, hence the name _watchers_. When people from the linear time stream die they can either become watchers or

not it is their choice, and they always have that option open, though few stay more than a few generations before moving on. There is a catch though, while you are a watcher you must keep the

balance between good and evil, no matter what. That is why we do not go past the present moment in the linear time stream, no matter how much you are tempted to do it, going forwards will throw

the balance even further off center, and in the process reverse all of the actions we have taken to fix the time stream up to this point. That is why you must not do it. This is all I can tell you at this

point James, you will find out the rest when we have added another to our conversation." James was disappointed about not being able to hear the rest but hopeful that the time had at last come

when he would be able to see his wife once more. With some reluctance because he didn't want to be proven wrong, James asked the question at the front of his mind, "who is it?" Dippet smiled sadly

and gave the one answer James both desired and dreaded at the same time, "your wife." James could barely contain his grief, "No! Not her! Not Lily! Anyone but her! She needed to live for our son!

There's nobody else to take care of him! Why did she have to die?!!? She was supposed to survive! Why I died to save her and then she died too? Was my sacrifice for nothing?" Suddenly something

hard hit James in the head knocking him out of his little world of self pity. He looked up and Professor Dippet was standing there with a book in his hands looking rather disappointed with him, " Let's

get something straight James, You did not die just to save her. Your sacrifice was not for nothing, because Lily died for your son to live. Understand?" James nodded, he really didn't like the old man at

the moment and didn't trust himself not to yell at him. He had no idea how he was supposed to feel after this latest revelation. On the one hand he had just found out his wife was dead but on the

onther hand James was relatively sure that Harry was still alive. Dippet had said that Lily died to save their son, which meant that Harry was still alive, albeit without parents now, but at least he had

survived somehow. James suspected that he wouldn't get an answer to that question until Lily arrived so he decided to focus on something else that had been nagging at the back of his mind since he

had heard that Lily was joining them. After a few deep breaths to calm himself down, James felt ready to ask his next big question, "how and when is Lily getting here?" Dippet looked relieved as he

answered the question, as if a huge weight had been taken from him and passed on to James. "You will be getting her. She is understandably upset and we feel that you are the best person to calm

her down." James could hardly believe his ears, "I'm going to get her? Where is she? When do I go get her?" Although he had thought he was ready for anything, James didn't expect the answer he

received. Dippet looked at him as if he was joking, "all you have to do is think about how much you want to see her and you'll be able to see her off in the distance, after that it is simply a matter of

walking over to her. There is one other thing I think you should know before you run off to get her: Lily won't see you unless she wants to. Otherwise you will be invisible to her, that's why you

couldn't see me when you first got here, I didn't want you to, and if someone here doesn't want to be seen they won't be. That is why, when you walk up to her she won't know you are there until

you say something. Now go get her before we all die of old age." for some reason Professor Dippet thought his last remark was rather funny but James didn't get it until he was far away. Since they

were outside of time they couldn't age, and they were already dead anyways. That was slightly funny in a morose kind of way, but not nearly as funny to James as it was to Professor Dippet, the old

man had a very weird sense of humor.

**A/N: this is as close to scifi as it's ever going to get. but really if you look at it from the point of view of one of the characters then it doesn't seem so far fetched. plus in book 5 we found out that the department of mysteries was studying time itself, so how do you know whether or not there was a file on the watchers down there? plus i only needed a way for james and lily to be dead and still be able to see harry grow up and stuff. it's almost the same thing as what happened to harry when he was killed in book 7 but didn't die. though sadly James and Lily really are dead and there is nothing i can do about it. hopefully i will get the next chapter up sometime tonight or tomorrow, and by hopefully i mean probably.**


	3. the end 2

The end 2

_Lily heard James shout for her to run. So run she did, she ran up the stairs to Harry's crib hoping she would get there before Voldemort could get past James. Despite her fervent hope, Lily knew _

_that James was probably already dead and Voldemort was the one she heard on the stairs chasing her, she knew it but some how she never let it bother her. If she died she would be with James and if by some _

_miracle she survived then she would have Harry to care for, but she already knew the outcome of the next 10 seconds. The enemy would burst through that door and she would defend her son from _

_a __bloodthirsty killer. It didn't matter what happened to her; as long as Harry had some chance to survive she would do whatever it took to make sure it happened. But something was wrong, when she saw the _

_flash __of green light shine through the open stairwell she knew without a doubt that James was dead. He had died without having fired a single spell, choosing to give a warning to his family rather than_

_fighting for __his own survival. Lily was certain of what had happened as soon as she heard someone on the stairs, James' steps never sounded like that when he was walking up the stairs, his steps sounded so _

_much lighter __and kinder then the menacing ones she heard now. This was all happening much too fast, Lily had barely even gotten through the door of Harry's nursery when she heard the voice of pure evil _

_speak behind her, __"stand aside girl," she turned to face him knowing exactly what was about to happen. She looked into the face of pure evil and declared in a loud voice, "No! Not Harry! Take me instead!" Lily _

_knew it was pointless __to argue with one so heartless and cruel, but her statement stunned the creature/man in front of her long enough for her to turn around and try to shield harry from the blast that she _

_knew was coming. She realized that it was probably a fruitless gesture but she had to take the chance, if Dumbledore was right and love was more powerful than anyone realized, then she might just save her _

_son, and __if he was wrong then she had just given up 10 more seconds of life and any chance she ever had of escaping from this alive. Lily really hoped that Dumbledore was right…For Harry's sake. That was _

_when Lily __Potter died, as she held her son one last time, trying to protect him from harm... She succeeded._


	4. what you expect isnt always what you get

**A/N: of course I don't own Harry potter, and although I thought of them on my own, I acknowledge that someone else has probably thought of something extremely similar sometime in the past.**

**A/N 2: I'm sorry for all of the long winded explanations in these first few chapters. Who would have thought that trying to create and explain a universe within an already pre-established storyline/ universe would be so hard? Don't worry, this is the last chapter before Harry appears, and it is important. If you want to skip over their explanation I can post a summary of the situation in front of the next chapter. Just let me know. **

What you expect is not always what you get

Did it work? Lily couldn't be sure. She didn't want to open her eyes for fear of what she would see, or wouldn't see as the case may be. Still she wanted to know what had happened, if anything had.

Maybe Voldemort was still staring at her and laughing at her futile attempt at bravery before he took her son from her and killed her for her insolence. She had to know what was happening, she

forced her eyes to open and tried to scan her surroundings, there was nothing there. All she could see was white nothingness everywhere she looked. That was when she realized that her two worst

fears had come true, she had lost them both. In the span of two minutes the creature known as lord Voldemort had managed to destroy her entire world. She felt truly alone for the first time since she

stepped foot in the wizarding world when she was 11 years old, for the first time since she met James. No matter how much she professed to hate him in those first few years, he had never left her

alone. Just thinking about James was almost too painful to bear, not knowing what else to do Lily broke down in tears, mourning the loss of her husband and son, wishing for all the world that she

could just rewind the clock a few hours so that she could have a little more time with them. As she sank to the ground, unable to stand any longer, she cried out, "why did you leave me James? Why?"

to her amazement he actually answered her in a soft voice, "I had no choice Lily." she looked around for him, willing him to appear yet knowing that it was probably futile. And then he was there,

pulling her into his arms as she sobbed quietly into his shoulder, this time they were tears of joy. "I'm here Lily," James said to her softly, "I'll always be here."

"But you're dead! I saw the flash from the spell that killed you!" Lily was confused now, but at least the tears had stopped flowing. "I was so sure that you were dead! James, you tried to fight off Lord

Voldemort! I mean, nobody survives that. Nobody! Not even you!

And then he came upstairs after me and…" Lily's eyes widened in terror as she came to a terrifying conclusion, " James they took Harry!" "Lily calm down", James said firmly. "NO I WILL NOT CALM

DOWN! DEATH EATERS HAVE OUR SON!" she shouted at him. "No they don't Lily, at least I don't think they do." James was fighting to retain his composure during her tyrade, he knew that a shouting

match would help nobody at this point. "THEN WHERE IS HE!" "well I assume that he is still at the house! I doubt anyone has gotten there yet." He was still trying to play the voice of reason in a

rapidly deteriorating conversation. "We have to go get him then!" At least she didn't shout that time, but James knew that it was only a temporary reprieve because as soon as she learned the truth

she would probably start shouting again. He took advantage of her sudden lack of volume to try to deliver the news of their tragic demise…in the gentlest way possible of course. "Lily we can't go get

him…" "why not? All we have to do is go back to the house and get him!" "it's not that simple Lily." "it certainly seems simple enough to me" "well it isn't" "why? It's not like we're dead or anything!"

his silence when she said that was more than enough to tell her how wrong that statement was, but she still had to hear him say it. She wouldn't believe it unless he said it out loud. "Say it James, tell

me we're dead, I'm not going to believe it unless you say it." James looked at her with agony in his eyes as he said it, "we're dead Lily, Voldemort killed us to get to Harry. _**"NO!!!" **_James knew that the

sound had come from his wife but he had never imagined that she could make such a noise, all of the pain and anguish that comes with the loss of a child had been poured out into that one word, Lily

looked as if her entire world had ended with no chance of recovery. And in a way, that was exactly what had happened to them. They were dead. There was no hope of return, no hope of ever seeing

their child again, no hope that they could protect him from what lay ahead. And James knew that there would be no comfort for her, not now, not ever. And even the fact that they could watch him from

afar, would not be enough to heal her broken heart. She wouldn't be happy until she could hold her son in her arms again. But they didn't have time to grieve at the moment, James wanted to get on

to their assignment as quickly as possible. "Lily, Harry is alive."

That got her attention. "He is?" "Yes, he is. And we have to help him with something." James tried to explain what he had been told, "there are these people called watchers who basically watch

everything going on down on earth as it happens and try to keep the 'balance' between the light and dark sides of magic, they watch but can't interfere in any way (something about free will being

essential to life). You basically become a watcher after you die but people have a choice as to whether or not they will be a watcher or move on (to where I don't know). Somehow I doubt that they

will give us a choice on whether or not we will become watchers." "You are quite right Mr. Potter," Lily jumped when she heard the strange voice but James just looked around and said, "it's ok to

come out professor Dippet, she doesn't bite…usually" Lily looked at James in confusion and asked him, "James, who are you-??… Look out!" Professor Dippet had chosen that exact moment to appear

in front of her and James. Lily was so startled that she punched the man twice and was about to cast a hex in his direction before James grabbed her, stopping her in her tracks and causing her to

realize that 1 James wasn't scared of this man 2 he was probably the one who had just spoken to them and 3 she didn't have a wand to attack him with. Once James was sure that she wouldn't try to

attack again, he released his hold on her. Professor Dippet looked annoyed, "I thought said she wouldn't hurt me!" James laughed at this. Both Lily and professor Dippet looked at him in confusion, but

the professor found his voice first, "what did I say?" James looked amused at his confusion, "I said she wouldn't bite you, but I said nothing about punching. Now I'm beginning to see why you guys

were so scared of her. Professor Dippet laughed then too, but Lily was a little put off by what James had just said, "what do you mean they are scared of me?" the men stopped laughing and just

looked at her. "apparently the watchers think you have a tendency to shoot first and ask questions later when you're confused or scared. And I'd say you just proved them right." James told her with a

smile.

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"We have to send you back." the short blonde witch told them. "You weren't supposed to die yet, not for a few years anyway…I'm afraid that the chain of events that resulted in your deaths was

partially our fault." James and lily were rather surprised at this new development. They had been waiting in a small nondescript room for what seemed like days before someone had come in and

announced that the watcher high council had finished deliberating and would like to see them for a moment. Apparently the word moment had a different meaning in the world of the watchers than it

did on earth, because the moment had so far lasted 2 hours and had no sign of ending any time soon. Lily was feeling slightly temperamental after all that time and wasn't afraid to show it, "what do

you mean our deaths were your fault?! You guys can't interfere down there…can you?" "Well we can't interfere per se, we prefer to call it influencing. When the balance becomes unstable we try to

nudge people in the right direction, to make sure the balance stays the same. In your case the events leading to your death started with a prophecy, one overheard at least partially by a death eater.

We sent the prophecy, to try to assist Dumbledore in his fight, that was all we could do really, anything more counts as interference. When we realized that the death eater heard it, we tried to use

his conscience a nudge in the right direction (not telling his master) but it didn't work entirely. As you probably know, he told his master, but then he did something unexpected…he went to

Dumbledore, this corrected it somewhat but not all the way. You see, we had created a traitor amongst your enemies ranks but you also had one in yours, and you just so happened to chose him as

secret keeper. That is what caused your deaths. But ironically your deaths caused the reversal we were trying to create in the first place. The problem is that it isn't enough, the imbalance is still there,

and if the timeline remains the way it is (and it must) the imbalance will repeat itself and grow worse. That is why we need you."

"what can we do? James and I have no idea what's even going on." "Technically, you already did it. By sacrificing yourself for your son you have created the instrument of change we needed to restore

the balance. After you were killed Voldemort tried to kill your son but failed, the curse backfired and Harry was spared and new chain of events began. What we need you to do is watch over Harry as

he grows up, follow him everywhere for the next seventeen years. Your mere presence will give him the power he needs to complete the tasks set before him by this chain of events." "James and I

were under the impression that we couldn't go back. Has that changed since we got here?" "no, you still can't go back, not as you were anyways. You will go back as little more than shadows, nobody

will be able to see or hear you without special circumstances allowing it. Those that you had a strong emotional connection with while you were alive will be able to sense you in the room but will

dismiss it. The main thing that Harry needs at this point is to be able to sense your presence and how much you love him, with this knowledge he will be able to survive and eventually flourish even

though you are absent from his life." The short witch seemed to be done speaking for the moment, so lily decided to take the opportunity to ask, "when can we go see him?" the entire council smiled

at them and one of them said, "now is as good a time as any…although I should warn you that your services may be required for other situations as well, if that occurs we will send Professor Dippet to

find you." "fine whatever, just tell us how to get to Harry."

"as you wish…it is the same process as you used to find Lily after you arrived here James."

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They appeared just as Dumbledore was placing Harry on the front step of number four Privet drive. James and Lily sat down next to their son and waited for the dawn.


	5. the passage of time

**A/N: of course I don't own Harry potter, and although I thought of them on my own, I acknowledge that someone else has probably thought of something extremely similar to the watchers sometime in the past. **

**The passage of time **

An earsplitting scream pierced the morning calm, startling James and Lily and waking baby Harry from his peaceful slumber much too soon for his liking. Vernon Dursley ran into the room shouting,

"what's wrong Petunia?" He stopped short as soon as he saw what had startled her. As soon as he regained his voice he told her, "bring it inside before the neighbors see it!" He looked rather

flustered at the moment, prompting James to say in an amused tone, _"you'd think they had never seen a baby left on their doorstep before" _Lily couldn't help but laugh despite the gravity of the situation,

_"I guess they need to get out a little more." _by this time the Dursleys had found and read Dumbledore's letter. "Vernon, I think we have to take him in, he has nowhere else to go."

Petunia said, looking at her husband. "Will he be like _her_?" "I don't know Vernon, probably. They say that that kind of thing runs in the blood." Vernon looked at her furiously, as if all of this was

Petunia's fault. "I WILL NOT HAVE ONE OF _THEIR _KIND IN MY HOUSE!! IT'S BAD ENOUGH TO BE RELATED TO ONE!" "Vernon shh! You'll wake Dudley!…you know it's not as if I _want _to take him in, it's just

that he has nowhere else to go. And she was my sister after all. Even if she was one of them."

"well if we take him in we'll have to stamp all that wizarding nonsense out of him, what would the neighbors think if they knew what his parents were? What _he_ most likely is?…no, no it's better for all

of us if we stamp out the nonsense while we still can." By this time Lily was glaring at him, wishing that she could just slap the man for even thinking about such a concept. _"you know, I'm really _

_beginning to hate that man" _she said to James after the ordeal was over. "_He actually believes that he can stop Harry from being a wizard. Why would Dumbledore leave him with these people?_" James

looked at her sadly, "_Lily this is your family. The only relatives Harry has left._" she looked at him pointedly and said, "I know that, but wouldn't he be better off with a wizarding family?" "_remember Lily, _

_Harry just supposedly defeated a dark wizard before he was even 2 years old. He is probably the most famous baby in the world…I suspect that dumbledore was trying to spare him from his own fame, probably _

_trying to prevent him from becoming like I was when we were first at Hogwarts, remember? Harry is going to need humility, and he won't learn that in a world where everyone knows who he is and what he did. _

_He's probably more famous than the guy who invented chocolate_." she gave him an exasperated look, "_James, nobody knows who invented chocolate. But I see your point….I just wish that he didn't have to _

_live here for the next ten years alone, not knowing who he really is_." James hugged her and said in a soft voice only she could hear, "_he'll never be alone as long as we're there to watch over him_."

* * *

2 years later...age 3

"_Don't they realize that this kind of treatment could end up scarring him for life?" Lily asked nobody in particular, "it's not as if shoving him in there will help the situation any" _Petunia had just finished locking

Harry in his cupboard for what seemed like the fiftieth time that day, and it was only ten a.m., simply because he realized it was his birthday today. James felt bad about not being able to do anything

for harry, but he could try to cheer up lily, _"look at it this way Lily," _James said_, "at least we won't have to worry about him getting caught in any broom cupboards at Hogwarts, if this keeps up I doubt he'll be _

_able to come within ten meters of a mop without running for his life." _She knew that James was only trying to find the humor in a bad situation but it still annoyed her to no end. "_at this rate he won't even _

_make it to hogwarts to get caught in a closet, he'll have turned into a broom long before then." _James smiled after she said that, he realized that they had finally started to accept that they could do no

more than watch him grow up. And that no matter how much they wanted to intervene, Harry had to do this alone, for now. _"just wait until he does get to Hogwarts, he'll finally know his own identity. And _

_he'll have friends, ones Dudley can't scare away, and Petunia won't be able to lock him in any more cupboards…I guess she'll have to find some other way to entertain herself, maybe lock dudley in there instead, _

_though I doubt he would fit. " _Lily smiled after James said that, then she had a jolt of inspiration,_ "James, at least one of us should sit with him every time he's locked in that dreadful cupboard…I know we've _

_been doing it a lot but I think it should be every time, he's going to need us constantly if we want him to get through these next few years" _she looked over to the cupboard in which Petunia had locked their

three year oldson, he had no idea that this was to be the last time he would ever be alone in that cupboard, his parents would no longer allow it...

* * *

in the cupboard...

Harry was crying. He didn't understand what he had done that was so bad, all he had done was ask whether he could have a birthday cake. It was his birthday after all, shouldn't he get one? Aunt

Petunia had thrown a fit when he asked, Harry just couldn't understand why they didn't like him. He fell asleep on his cot as he was pondering that thought, he began to dream…

_**He was sitting in the cupboard as usual, but there were two people sitting next to him. He recognized them, but he had no idea why, he couldn't remember where he had seen them **_

_**before. The familiar lady's eyes widened when she realized he was looking at them.**__ "james, I think he can see us!" __**the man, james, said,**__ "that's impossible, the watchers said that he wouldn't be _

_able too see us, not until his first year at school." _

"_james he's only three! He won't find the mirror for eight years…" __**harry interrupted at this point, **_**"who are you?" **_**the lady smiled at him through a veil of tears, **__" we're your parents harry."__**harry **_

_**was shocked, **_**"but, my parents are dead. They died two years ago." **_**james finally looked him in the eye, something he hadn't realized he was avoiding until that moment, and said what lily **_

_**couldn't bear to say, **__" we did die harry, but we're here now, for you. We're here to watch over you and keep you safe, because we love you too much to let you grow up without knowing that someone does _

_care about you…" __**harry saw his parents beginning to fade away, but he could still hear their voices for a few more seconds, **__" good bye for now son, just remember that we are always with you, _

_wherever you go we will be there with you." __**the man was gone first, the woman looked at him and said, **__"don't tell your aunt about this, she won't understand. Just know that I love you harry, more than _

_life itself." __**apparently they both found this funny, because the last thing he heard as he woke up was their laughter. It was a sound he would never forget.**_

Harry woke up when aunt petunia opened the door to his cupboard. "you missed lunch boy, you'll have to wait for dinner." harry knew that he hadn't so much missed lunchtime as she had forgotten to

let him out for it, but he didn't care. "that's k auntie p'tuna, me wuz nawt hunger any way." he said, "me go pway wif me's toys now." Of course petunia knew that he meant the broken toys that

dudley didn't want anymore, he was too young to understand that he was getting reject toys, and not big enough for them to put to work yet, maybe in a couple of years he would grow big enough to

"pull his own weight".

* * *

**Author's Note/ Explanation: harry spoke perfect english in the dream because he was speaking in his head and thus knew what he meant to say and it came out correctly, because everything **

**sounds better in your head. After he woke up he spoke like a three year old speaks, meaning, he couldn't pronounce certain words correctly and didn't know proper sentence order. It makes **

**sense if you think about it enough. Don't ask me why a three year old knows about the concept of death, I'd say it was probably because his parents are dead and the dursleys probably told **

**him about it because they really don't care enough about him to try to avoid scarring him for life, if they did then he wouldn't be locked in a cupboard all the time.**

**-Now back to the story.-**

**

* * *

**

age 7

Harry sat back on his cot with a sigh. It had been four years since his first dream about his parents, and every so often it would happen again, usually when he was at a particularly low point with his

self esteem and started questioning whether he mattered at all. Lately he had started getting those dreams more and more, they were never the same, and most of the time he couldn't remember the

dream itself, but he always woke up with the feeling that he was loved and that he really did matter. Those dreams were becoming the high point of his life, that was rather sad when he thought

about it, but what could he do? He had no control over his life at the moment, and he seriously doubted whether he would survive long enough to ever have that control, not if the dursleys had

anything to do with it. But his parents wouldn't let them do anything harmful to him, would they? If his dreams were to be believed, they were watching him. But could they really stop the dursleys?

_"oh harry, if only you knew who and what you are. You wouldn't be having such thoughts." _lily could see those thoughts racing through her son's mind, she didn't like how dark they were becoming,

_"james, we need to go into harry's dreams again." _she said to her husband. He looked at her and said, _"you know the watchers don't like it when we do that, they're starting to think that we are trying to _

_interfere with the chain of events." _she just glared at him, _" they know as well as we do that his magical powers are setting in, his connection with voldemort is beginning to develop. Without our dreams he _

_will start to succumb to the dark influence of that thing in his head." james tried to interrupt but she shut him up with a glare. " they wanted us to watch over and protect him, and that's what we're doing. _

_These dreams are the only thing keeping him from drowning in his despair over the treatment my stupid family has been giving him…maybe after he goes to school we can let up on the dream excursions for a _

_little bit. When he gets to our world his life should be happier, at the very least he won't be surrounded by idiots who think magic is a disease." _james had to smile at his wife's reasoning, _" I think they'll be _

_swayed by your reasoning. By now they're probably beginning to regret bringing you into this little project." "if they don't regret it by now then I haven't been doing my job right. I'll just have to try harder next _

_time." _He held up his hands in mock surrender_, "hey you're getting no arguments from me, I'm just trying to play devil's advocate here. They brought us in to do their dirty work for them. Stopping us means _

_interfering even more than they have already, and they know how bad that turned out…I'll just go tell them what we're doing," hurry james, he'll be asleep in a couple of hours, you need to be back by then." _

_"Lily you know that they don't really care about our timetables, but I'll have them slow down the time variation just in case." _with that he disappeared, and lily felt a slight shift in the air around her, which

meant that the watchers had indeed slowed the passage of time to suit their needs once again. At least they were good for something in this situation.

* * *

2 hours later

James was finally back. It had taken longer than expected but finally the watchers had agreed to give them free reign on this topic, within reason of course. And there were a few conditions as well,

once harry's letter came both of them had to go back to the watcher's realm for further instruction. Of course this was so that james and lily could go about this on their own instead of always checking

in with the watchers every time they wanted to do something. There had been no time for them to be instructed in how to actually use their new powers before they were sent to be with harry, hence

their accidental dream incursion four years previously. Lily hadn't been happy about having to leave harry but she was looking forward to not needing so much oversight in the future. She knew that

Vernon would most likely run once the letter came, and they couldn't follow until he stopped running, so having something to do during that time would be a welcome distraction from the agonizing

wait for a location of their son.

They were waiting now too, waiting for harry to fall asleep so that they could enter his dreams. They wouldn't have to wait very long.


End file.
